Cool brooder.



No. 822,619. PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906. N. A. LYBEGK.

COOL BROODER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14. 1906.

TTNTTED STATES PATENT EETCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I Patented June 5, 1906.

Application filed February 14,1906. Serial No. 301,090.

T at whom it rncty concern.-

Be it known that I, NiLs AUGUST LYBEOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Corning, in the county of Tehama and State of California, have invented a new and useful Cool Brooder, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in brooders.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of brooders and to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensive cold or unheated brooder designed to receive young chicks when they are transferred from a warm or heated brooder to an unheated one and adapted to prevent the chicks from killing one another.

When young chicks are first transferred from a warm or heated brooder to an unheated one, the latter feels colder to them than it really is, and as the first chick in the corner feels the warmth of the next chick it cuddles down and invites such chick to lie or stand on it and in this way the next and the next until the Whole brood are in a pile in the corner, and when the bottom chicks begin to feel the weight it is then impossible for them to move, as the weight is too great and many are smothered. It has been found by experi ence that as many as twenty per cent. have been killed in this way in one night.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cold or unheated brooder which will effectually prevent young chicks from crowding upon and smothering one another and which will enable a maximum number of chicks to be housed within it without danger, whereby the profit in raising chicks will be increased and the loss of young chicks through the said cause effectually prevented.

WVith these and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details of construction within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of a brooder constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the guard.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings. r

1 designates a chicken-coop which may be of any desired size and which is preferably rectangular, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The coop, which is pro vided with a suitable top or roof 2, has vertical side and end walls 3 and 4E and is preferably open at the bottom to enable it to be readily placed over and removed from a guard 5, which entirely fills the space at the bottom of the brooder for effectually preventing young chicks from crowding into the corners of the same, and thereby becoming smothered orinjured through one chick standing or lying upon another. The roof may be of any desired construction, and the front and rear end walls 4- are preferably provided with doors 6, hinged at the top, as shown. The top longitudinal side bars 7 are preferably extended at the front and back of the chicken-coop to provide handles 8, arranged in pairs and adapted to permit the coop to be readily carried from one point or place to another.

The guard 5 comprises a rectangular frame 9, inner and outer concentric rings 10 and 11, and top slats or bars 12. The inner and outer rings, which may be constructed of sheet metal or any other suitable material, constitute circular walls and form a circular passage or space around the bottom of the brooder. The front side or member of the rectangular frame 9 is provided with an opening 13, forming an entrance to the circular space or passage 14 and adapted to permit chicks to readily pass into and out of the same. The ends of the material forming the outer circular wall or ring 11 are secured to the front bar or member of the frame 9 at opposite sides of the opening 13, and the said outer Wall or ring is also secured to the side and rear bars or members of the frame 9 at the central portions thereof. The inner circular wall is provided at its upper edge with ears 10 extending outward horizontally and secured to the lower faces of the slats 12.

The circular walls will in practice be from two and a half inches to four and a half inches in height, according to the size of the chicks to be placed in the brooder, and the top bars,

which extend across the circular passage, and the rest of the space inclosed by the rectangular frame 9 are too low to permit one chick to stand upon another and are spaced apart, as shown, in order that the chicks, should they fly upon the top of the guard and attempt to crowd one another, will be caused to fall between the top slats or bars into the space below the same. The spaces between the slats 12 are of sufficient width to permit the chicks to pass through them.

The guard is removably placed u on a bottom 15, fitted within the coop an provided at its lower face with bars or cleats 16, which reinforce the bottom and raise the same above the ground or other supporting-surface. The guard is removably placed upon the bottom, which is also provided with proj ecting lugs 17, extending upward from the bottom and engaging the bars or members of the frame 9.

The coop is provided above the guard with roost-bars or perches 18, which are spaced apart and which are suitably secured to the side walls of the coop, as shown. Should the chicks attempt to crowd one another upon the roost-bars, they will fall therefrom, and

. there will be no danger of chicks when roosting on the bars 18 being injured by crowding or smothering one another.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A brooder, comprising a coop, and a guard arranged within the coop and provided. with a curved passage or space for the chicks, said guard being also provided with means for preventing the chicks from crowding upon one another in the passage or space.

2. A brooder provided with a guard consisting of inner and outer concentric rings, and slats extending across and forming a top for the guard, said slats being arranged at a height to prevent one chick from standing upon another, and being also spaced apart to provide intervening openings through which chicks are adapted to fall to prevent them from crowding upon the top of the guard.

3. A brooderprovided with a removable guard comprising a rectangular frame adapted to fit the interior of the brooder, and inner and outer concentric rings located within the frame and forming an intervening circular passage, said frame being also provided with an opening forming an entrance to the passa e.

i. A brooder provided with a guard comprising a frame, inner and outer rings forming an intervening circular passage and arranged within the frame, the latter being provided with an entrance-opening communicating with the passage, and slats secured to the frame at the top thereof and extending across the circular passage and spaced apart to provide openings through which chicks are adapted to fall to prevent them crowding one another upon the top of the guard.

5. A brooder comprising a coop, a frame fitting within the coop, curved walls located within the frame and spaced apart to provide an intervening passage, slats mounted upon the frame and extending across the said passage and spaced apart to provide openings through which chicks are adapted to fall, and roost-bars or perches mounted within the coop above the said slats.

6. A brooder comprising a casing open at the bottom and provided with an entrance, a guard removably fitted within the coop and having a cir ular passage, said guard being also provided with an entrance communicating with the entrance to the coop, and a bottom fitted within the coop and removably receiving the guard.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

NILS AUGUST LYBECK.

WVitnesses:

W. N. WOODSON, N. D. PrIELrs. 

